Beenie Man
Leighton Williams and Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporters
ONCE upon a time, it was thought that rappers imitated local deejays. These days, the tables seemed to have turned as some deejays now imitate rappers.
At least, that is the view of many members of the public and some members of the music industry.
From style of songs, lyrics and music video themes, the 'Americanisation' of the music has grown in recent years. Several hip-hop and rhythm and blues songs in recent years have been deliberately or unintentionally sampled by several deejays.
A part of Elephant Man's video for his hit song Log On, the cemetery scene seems to have been sampled from Michael Jackson's Thriller music video.
The list of songs is long and the persons who are guilty of imitating songs are just as long. From Beenie Man and Elephant Man at the top to upcoming acts at the bottom, the practice knows no boundaries.
A look at the charts over the last two or three years will show that several songs have been used which are derived from R&B and hip-hop tunes. Beenie Man's My Wish was taken from R. Kelly's I Wish. His song Circumstances, a combination with Ricky Rudy (Bling Dawg) was taken from R. Kelly's I'm Bad Man.
The list continues. Elephant Man has done several covers also. His song Bring The War On was taken directly from Missy Elliot's Get Your Freak On. E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T was taken from a song done by Snoop Dogg. Jamaica, also done by Elephant Man, samples from R. Kelly's hit Fiesta. These are just a few of the examples that easily come to mind.
Still, most members of the dancehall fraternity see nothing wrong with the idea of imitating or copying songs from America or elsewhere.
"The guys are making music and they are building a vibe and we can dance. Jamaica done Americanise already, so we done sell out already," explained Spragga Benz, who is known for hits such as Free Paper Bun and Warrior Cause, done in tandem with Elephant Man.
For his part, Elephant Man sees nothing wrong with what he is doing. He points out that a lot of his other songs are original. He explains that songs such as Warrior Cause and Log On are original and not based on hip-hop themes. He adds, too, that the fans also enjoy his music, whether he does this or not.
Still, there are persons in the business who disagree with Spragga. To some producers, there needs to be more originality from the artistes.
"The man dem nah create original lyrics. Dem a use hip-hop topics in their songs. A few of the artistes are using original things, but not everybody," said Mikey Johnson, who is known for his production of the 'Zion Gate' rhythm.
However, while some persons have been accusing dancehall acts of imitating rappers, it has long been said the idea of rap had been originated by a Jamaican, Cool Herc, who lived in Brooklyn, New York. Herc, it is said, developed his craft by listening to local deejays at the time. In fact, it is argued that in the early days rappers used to imitate local deejays and reggae artistes in terms of style and themes.
Author and administrator Tekla Mekfet, who was responsible for the symposium 'Rastafari-Reggae and Dancehall Culture: Roots of the Sound Clash and other Cultural Confusion', agrees that the genre has strayed. However, he argues that both American and Jamaican music converge in hip-hop.
He points out that both genres are market-oriented instead of being spiritual and added that Bob Marley had wanted to reach the black American market but was never taken seriously, since some members of the black population were more into consumerism. Mekfet adds that the idea of rapping is African in nature, hence it is not unusual for both Jamaicans and members of black America to be able to rap or deejay.
It is this point of lack of spirituality that has crept into the music that Cocoa Tea believes has caused deejays to start 'imitating the imitators', since some of the artistes mostly dwell on hip-hop themes.
"Due to how the youths dem stray from the spirituality of reggae music dem caan find anything else fi talk bout," Cocoa Tea pointed out. The lack of spirituality, Cocoa Tea argues, has caused the values of the music to fall, since the authenticity that used to transcend boundaries no longer exists.
Mekfet agrees with Cocoa Tea on that point, adding that dancehall does not always facilitate the idea of community. "When you listen to dancehall, you predominantly see violence and other negative values. It doesn't foster community," he pointed out. While Cocoa Tea believes that some deejays are imitating rappers, co-producer of the 'Martial Arts' rhythm, Cordell 'Skatta' Burrell, believes that both genres imitate each other. However, he points out that the business need more lyricists.
"What is needed is more songwriters in certain artistes' careers. Since you may have a rapper who hears a song by an artiste and wants to do a collaboration. However, he will hear the artiste with his punchline and lose ratings for him," he said.
On the other hand, Dr. Carolyn Cooper points out that there is nothing wrong with doing a cover version of any song. "Doing cover versions is a long-standing tradition. I don't think anything is wrong with it. It's a give and take thing; we do over the foreign acts songs and vice versa. It would be a problem if we were only imitating them and at the same time not making any original songs," pointed out Dr. Cooper.
She continued by saying that an equilibrium must be maintained. "Once we are creating and being creative I don't think there is any problem in doing covers, so it's a question of degree," she said.
None of the parties think that the 'following' trend is ultimately bad for Jamaica's music. They agree with Dr. Cooper that if originality is maintained in the business, then covers won't do any harm.
Upcoming act Zumjay sums it up best though. "It's (copying hip-hop acts) not bad or good for the business. I don't see how it will help it, but it has it's ups and downs," he said.
